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Angela Jain, Head of E4
It's been a busy year so far on E4, culminating last month with our best week this year where our share was 4.7% for our target audience 16-34s, easily putting us ahead of our competitors. We have achieved this by acquiring great US shows, commissioning high quality original programmes and skilful marketing and scheduling. Our audience think that what we are is clear and speaks to them, so we must continue to do that.
This year we have seen the return of the phenomenal Skins, the stories were as expertly told as the first series and the writing and acting even better than the first series. Skins has demonstrated that a digital channel can show a successful, well-written and award-winning drama (we've lost count of the number of awards) that rates and is channel-defining. The holy grail, really. That does however mean, we are not looking for another Skins. Skins has captured the teen world brilliantly and with an authenticity so our next drama that sits alongside it should feel very different, possibly even high concept. What is crucial is that the drama should be unashamedly for our target audience, 16-34s. We are not looking for one-offs in drama, only series.
We also saw The Inbetweeners hit our screens earlier this year. E4's first sitcom, it focused on a group of teenage boys and the pain of growing up in suburbia. It was knowing and funny. Brilliantly written and superbly acted, our audience loved it and a second series has been commissioned. This was a bit of a departure for E4, but I would consider other funny dramas/sitcoms.
The equally award-winning and terrific Fonejacker returns in the Autumn along with Dead Set, a thriller from the mighty sword of Charlie Brooker, Rude Tube a fact ent series that takes us through a countdown of some of the most viewed clips online. We also have a week of specially written late-night Hollyoaks, and Beehive, a female sketch show written and performed by Barunka O'Shaugnessy, Alice Lowe, Sarah Kendall and Clare Thomson.
As will be clear from the above, E4 are concentrating principally on comedy and entertainment on the one hand and drama on the other. E4 now has a terrific track record in this regard so the bar is high. But I know there are lots of great ideas out there and new and established talent to bring these ideas to life. When thinking about E4, think mischievous and fun and always that you should be speaking directly and almost exclusively to the target audience, and generally series. When our shows work, there is also a ring of authenticity and wit. There will be space for only a couple of one-offs. Our tariffs are broadly in line with Channel 4 so that we can retain the quality threshold but that does mean fewer commissions in order to be able to do that. In terms of talent, of course we are looking for young, new things together with more established names that will bring a ready-made audience with them. E4 has a fantastic track record for finding new talent so it would be good to build on that too.
As usual, commissions are run through the relevant commissioning departments in Channel 4, but you can contact me directly if you would like more of a steer.
angela jain
head of e4
It's been a busy year so far on E4, culminating last month with our best week this year where our share was 4.7% for our target audience 16-34s, easily putting us ahead of our competitors. We have achieved this by acquiring great US shows, commissioning high quality original programmes and skilful marketing and scheduling. Our audience think that what we are is clear and speaks to them, so we must continue to do that.
This year we have seen the return of the phenomenal Skins, the stories were as expertly told as the first series and the writing and acting even better than the first series. Skins has demonstrated that a digital channel can show a successful, well-written and award-winning drama (we've lost count of the number of awards) that rates and is channel-defining. The holy grail, really. That does however mean, we are not looking for another Skins. Skins has captured the teen world brilliantly and with an authenticity so our next drama that sits alongside it should feel very different, possibly even high concept. What is crucial is that the drama should be unashamedly for our target audience, 16-34s. We are not looking for one-offs in drama, only series.
We also saw The Inbetweeners hit our screens earlier this year. E4's first sitcom, it focused on a group of teenage boys and the pain of growing up in suburbia. It was knowing and funny. Brilliantly written and superbly acted, our audience loved it and a second series has been commissioned. This was a bit of a departure for E4, but I would consider other funny dramas/sitcoms.
The equally award-winning and terrific Fonejacker returns in the Autumn along with Dead Set, a thriller from the mighty sword of Charlie Brooker, Rude Tube a fact ent series that takes us through a countdown of some of the most viewed clips online. We also have a week of specially written late-night Hollyoaks, and Beehive, a female sketch show written and performed by Barunka O'Shaugnessy, Alice Lowe, Sarah Kendall and Clare Thomson.
As will be clear from the above, E4 are concentrating principally on comedy and entertainment on the one hand and drama on the other. E4 now has a terrific track record in this regard so the bar is high. But I know there are lots of great ideas out there and new and established talent to bring these ideas to life. When thinking about E4, think mischievous and fun and always that you should be speaking directly and almost exclusively to the target audience, and generally series. When our shows work, there is also a ring of authenticity and wit. There will be space for only a couple of one-offs. Our tariffs are broadly in line with Channel 4 so that we can retain the quality threshold but that does mean fewer commissions in order to be able to do that. In terms of talent, of course we are looking for young, new things together with more established names that will bring a ready-made audience with them. E4 has a fantastic track record for finding new talent so it would be good to build on that too.
As usual, commissions are run through the relevant commissioning departments in Channel 4, but you can contact me directly if you would like more of a steer.
angela jain
head of e4
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